A Message to the Priests
The opening section of Malachi 2 is fairly challenging and
downright scary when you think about it.
Malachi comes against the priests and tells them about their offenses
before the Lord. What I think is amazing
about this is that the people to whom Malachi is speaking are still just
recently returned from exile. If anyone
would have an easy time remembering to take their faith seriously, you would
expect it to be the people just coming out of exile.
What do the priests do that is offensive? Well, yesterday we heard a nice list regarding
practices and sacrifices. But today
Malachi also focuses in on their teaching.
The priests are to guard knowledge and the people are to desire
instruction. But the people have turned
away. Either the priests are instructing
falsely or more likely the priests simply aren’t instructing at all. In other words, religion is becoming a rote
practice with little actual meaning behind it.
This is troublesome for me on two levels. First of all, if there is any danger to
organized religion it is when behavior becomes rote. When we are simply going through motions, we
are in danger. When there is no purpose
to our actions and words then there is no transformation. If there is no transformation, then are we
really with God? There is my worry. I know that if I give myself to God then He
will transform my life. So if there is
no transformation occurring, then am I really giving myself to God? As my life becomes more and more rote and
less and less meaningful what happens to my relationship with God?
The second reason this passage is troublesome is because I am a
firm believer in the New Testament concept of the priesthood of all
believers. The same critique that
Malachi offers up here of the priests in his day can be asked of the followers
of Christ in our own day! Are the
followers of Christ dedicated to being teachers of His ways? How many of us come to the Sunday morning
experience desiring to “be fed?” How
many of us look for opportunities for our own growth? Now don’t get me wrong. I should desire spiritual food and I should desire
spiritual growth. But Christ’s greatest
call is to make disciples! My focus should
not be on coming to “learn” as much as it is on coming to learn and grow so
that I can take it out to others. That’s
what it means to be a priest! That’s
what it means to follow Christ. Jesus
needs disciples who can make disciples, not stalwart bastions of unapproachable
knowledge.
A Conversation about Marriage
Malachi now turns to another problem among the Hebrew people:
intermarriage among the Gentiles. Of
course, when taken into exile a certain amount of intermarriage would only be
natural. As the Hebrew people were
scattered under the Assyrians and the Babylonians it would make sense that many
of the Hebrew people would fall from their faith and be absorbed into the
Gentile culture. While certainly not
acceptable by God’s standards, it is understandable how such a reality could
come about.
Here’s the thing. God doesn’t
really have an issue with Gentiles.
After all, He sent His Son to die for all. He sent Paul specifically to minister to the
Gentiles! He has called Gentiles into
His kingdom. So the issue for God isn’t
so much that they are Gentile as that they are pagan. He doesn’t want His people being pulled away
from Him.
This is a very important point, especially when considering marriage. It is difficult to remain faithful to God
throughout one’s life. It is even more
difficult when you have a spouse pulling you in another direction. We know the Hebrew people had trouble being
obedient to God on their own, much less when temptation pulls them away!
The same is likewise true for us.
Even today, it is difficult to follow Jesus every day. It is difficult to be obedient to God’s
desires. When considering a spouse, it
is of great importance to choose someone who will encourage you in your faith
rather than detract from it! In fact,
from God’s perspective we can see here that marrying someone who does not
support you in your faith is actually displeasing to God.
That being said, notice that even in the midst of their rebellion
with respect to marriage God desires faithfulness. God desires that we as men be faithful to our
wives. He likewise desires that wives
are faithful to their husbands. Here is
another reason to marry someone who can support your spirituality. Marriage is almost as difficult as being
obedient to God. You want to marry
someone who takes the difficult nature of marriage as seriously as they take
your relationship with God.
Making the Lord Weary
The final verses of Malachi 2 are simple yet profound. Malachi tells the people that they have made
the Lord weary. How have they done
so? They have not paid attention to
righteousness. They allow that which is
evil to exist and even be pronounced as good.
Again I am reminded that these are a people of recent freedom. They have just come from captivity! Yet, because of their human hearts they are
quickly turned. How true is that for all
of us! We all turn to sin and our own
desires far more quickly than we should.
It is far too easy to forget the Lord and be disobedient to His ways
even in the midst of His blessing.
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